The new WTO’s Services Trade Barometer came in at 98.4, slightly below baseline value of 100. The reading indicates that serves trade continued to face strong headwinds into second half of the year.
WTO noted that “declines in most of the Services Trade Barometer’s component indices drove the second quarter softening, as they signalled a broad loss of momentum across various services sectors.” However, despite loss of momentum this year, “services trade has generally held up better than goods trade since the latter is more directly affected by recent trade tensions.”